Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

themadvix · 9 January 2017 at 12:28PM

Had a lovely birthday weekend away in York. Train and accommodation costs came to £33 for both of us (V*rgin seat sale and free night on H0tels.com). Had lunch out (DH paid, it was my birthday

) and then had a small tea in our apart/hotel (room with a kitchenette, was really good). Cooked breakfast at the city's Prem1er Inn using S&S Leisure v's - so 'free'. That kept us going until we got home! So bargainous weekend away - about £75 in total! And we had a lovely time - mooched around, walked the city walls and enjoyed the National Rail Museum, where we picked up a lovely train print (in the poster artwork style) for £7.

Took my new flask away and felt very civilised having a cup of tea from that on the train - I got rather envious looks from a man on the train on the way back! Probably saved £20 (3 cups needed a various points - if we'd gone into a cafe would have had to buy a drink for DH too (he could have had hot choc but settled for the (tap) water bottle we'd taken) and likely as not, a piece of cake!).

Paid my car tax this morning, and discovered I budget £30 more than needed for that - so £30 transferred to OP fund. NW rewards money withdrawn and sent to OP pot, plus Internet monitor £4... OP fund now at £48. Have chased £co re Am voucher they owe me, a bit miffed it's not arrived as I'm waiting for it before ordering car parts - which are budgeted for elsewhere, meaning another £100 for OP pot, when I actually buy them.

In kitchen cupboard news, I soaked a bag of kidney beans last night and have cooked them this morning, ready for eating/freezing, and I have two loaves in the oven for lunches this week. Cooking heat is warming the house (just), so no heating yet.

Plenty of work to be getting on with and Mum might pop up later - we'll be heading to the cafe of the Roman god, as NW have sent me a birthday treat of a free cake there

themadvix · 10 January 2017 at 5:35PM

Pretty quiet day here today, no spending, lots of work done. Kidney beans (that didn't get eaten in chilli last night) are all tucked up in the freezer ready for future use and Mum and I had a lovely cuppa yesterday (she drove, paid for parking and bought the tea, I suppose it was a birthday treat!).

Had a response from £co, with the Am code - good customer service there I feel - so have applied that to account; also did PC survey yesterday which was credited today - combined with leftover £2 from before, that's made another £5 Am voucher to add to account. Just waiting for DH to get home and then I'll order the bits I need.

Continuing to potter with surveys.... It's slow going at the moment though, I think it's the time of year. 1P is at £32.30, but struggling to get anywhere fast, despite regular checking throughout the day. SB website is diabolical at the moment, nothing's working or loading; from the SB thread on here I don't think it's just me either. Hey ho, I'll keep plodding on. DH continues with MB, and progress is being made, albeit slowly. He mentioned needing to do some new sign ups, so hopefully that'll boost the coffers a bit.

Leftover chilli tonight - with rice instead of pasta (and I might fry some courgettes to go alongside it).

try_harder · 11 January 2017 at 8:45AM

Happy belated birthday themadvix ,sounds like you had a great time.

themadvix · 11 January 2017 at 10:22AM

Thanks TH, I did! How are things with you?

Lots to do this morning, some work and various jobs (must remember to ring the GrandMIL to thank her for birthday present!), before seeing sis and baby niece this afternoon. Am going to see if they want to go for a walk - they live in a third floor flat, so getting out isn't easy!

Finished the chilli for dinner last night and boiled some eggs for DH's lunch as we have now finished all the Christmas cheese and I didn't want to go shopping yesterday. I'll have to go today though. Dinner tonight will use up a lemon that's been lurking in the fridge for ages (seems fine, but hope the middle's not mouldy!), half a bag of qu0rn from the freezer and I'll try to make a batch of pasta to go with it (but failing that there's some in the cupboard!). DH away with work tomorrow night, so am planning on enjoying the piece of salmon that is in the freezer!

Forgot to say yesterday that I discovered how to set up monthly funding for ISA, so having transferred £500 in, I'm now in the process of getting that refunded, and the first £50 has been invested.

Have just placed Am order for car bits- £110-worth of vouchers used, so have 'transferred' that to OP fund - as the money is earning 5% where it is, I've nominally moved it for now - i.e. made a note in spreadsheet that it needs to move! Mentioned to DH that I only need to find another £180 to reach this month's target and he has promptly found me £100 :T Apparently he's been using some form of TT app (Tilly, you missed a trick there!), that squirrels a few pence away after each purchase. It learns your patterns too, so I've been informed. Anyway, he's got £100 as a result

Just £80 to find....

Was planning on making the shortfall up from Jan's pay as I'm due quite a bit, but seems I won't have to worry - this will allow a bit of a buffer to build up, especially as we're having a super cheap month this month and it won't be possible to keep that up all the time. (Super cheap being relative considering it includes a weekend away and a day out at the seaside and we're a third of the way into it! I'm so grateful that living cheaply is a choice and not a necessity).

On that note, things I am grateful for today:
* the smell of hyacinths in my kitchen (a pot for £1.75 from the Swedish furniture shop), glorious!
* plenty of work to be getting on with
* a clever husband who seems to have fixed the leaking cold feed in the downstairs loo (I honestly don't know how we'd afford to do this place up if he wasn't so handy, but then, he is an engineer!)
* the prospect of cuddles with niece this afternoon!

themadvix · 12 January 2017 at 2:23PM

Productive day so far today. Returned pan connector to W*ckes and despite not having a receipt they gave me a refund to my card - result! Bought new ceiling pendant, so we can actually fit the new light fitting on the landing. Also popped to H0bbycraft and got various bits that were needed (plus some reduced wool to knit my niece a hat, I'll aim for 3-6 months size-wise I think!). (£18 spent - much better value for the frame than the last one). Finally, called in at WR and bought a few store cupboard necessities that we had run out of - gives us options for various regular meals now. £15 spent there, so not too bad.

Have been notified that my first £50 has been invested by CSD - will be interesting to follow its progress!

Am in the process of booking a night's camping stay (awaiting the man to call me back as his computer was so slow!) - no idea on price yet, but apparently we get a £12 discount because there's no electric to the pitch :rotfl: not sure when it became compulsory to have electricity for camping in a tent! But I don't mind the discount

Have done the small amount of work available today. Plans for this afternoon should include walking to the nearby shops, but as it's not looking like it will stop raining/is forecast to start sleeting, I think I'll focus on the home-based jobs this afternoon.

DH popping home for lunch before heading oop north with work - I'm eating on my own tonight, although still undecided as to what yet.

Hmm, best go and get on with some of these jobs then...

ETA: I forgot my things to be grateful for:

* DH coming home for lunch before heading off - makes a change to have some company at lunchtime
* central heating!
* getting out first thing this morning and missing the rain
* Lily OBrien birthday chocs from mum

themadvix · 13 January 2017 at 3:01PM

No work today! So have caught up on the last quarter's accounts for my Brownies and done all the related admin for the beginning of this term (tonight), including listing some badges that are no longer of use to us on a couple of sites - money to the Brownies obviously, but decluttering benefits me as I won't be lugging the bits around in the bottom of my Brownie bag. Have done some other filing, decluttering to the boot sale pile and general housework too. Feeling much more organised!

Haven't done the jobs at the shops yet - the snow is almost gone now, but sister is having a hard day with baby, so I've offered to pop round and see her (she's struggling with the lack of company, as she can't get out yet and is used to being in an office environment). I'll have to force myself to cuddle my niece.... :rotfl:

DH home from oop north tonight, and in charge of cooking - he's got a grotty cold though, so freezer curry it is! More MS than the takeaway he threatened

It's nice to have freezer meals all ready to go.

Things I am grateful for:
* Watching the snow fall this morning - I love watching it, it's mesmerising (not great when I'm driving though!)
* The snow having melted more or less as I have to go out soon
* DH home tonight
* Cat company

pawlala · 13 January 2017 at 4:09PM

themadvix wrote: »

Things I am grateful for:
* Watching the snow fall this morning - I love watching it, it's mesmerising (not great when I'm driving though!)

met up with a work colleague today, they had loads of snow and were an hour late, I got no snow at all and was 30 mins early. Sat in the car drinking coffee on my own for what felt an age! :rotfl:

Watty1 · 13 January 2017 at 5:14PM

Late catch up and reply - but - I have a fabulous recipe for lamb shanks cooked in balsamic vinegar if you want it. I've been using shoulder and asking butcher to hack into chunks as cheaper than shanks which are apparently trendy these days! Its fairly foolproof and I've served it at a couple of dinner get togethers and it has gone down well.

themadvix · 16 January 2017 at 11:26AM

Oh Pawlala, that sounds like a bit of a disaster! As you may have gathered, I didn't have to go anywhere in the snow, so I was able to focus on its prettiness! It is weird how conditions can vary so much in such a short distance!

Thanks Watty, but I'm afraid I don't eat meat, so probably not a lot of use to me. It's really kind of you to offer though!

Had a fairly quiet weekend as DH had a cold at the end of last week and spent the weekend recovering. Apart from some milk and cold tablets, it was a no-spend weekend.

I listed a few bits on the Bay - some plumbing bits where we'd only needed one of the two items/we'd opened the bag to discover it was the wrong bit; various random foreign coins - a big batch of French francs and some other rarer ones (nothing earth-shattering value-wise, we're talking a couple of quid each, if I'm lucky); and some lanyards from the event we go to in November (really boring R@C ones). Pretty much all listed as BIN - guess what has already sold? Yes, of course, the lanyards.... which I debated not listing! :rotfl: It's a pain in many ways, but I do love the Bay for the stupid things you can sell!

DH did quite a bit of MB, but sadly some of it didn't pay off (one of the deals involves a multiplier, so you lay against the normal odds, so no losses, but if the team wins, you actually win some money! Except it didn't

) He has transferred some profits to me for the rest of this month's OP - so we've found the full £833 for Jan. I paid the first £500 at the beginning of the month, but the £333 won't get transferred until beginning of next month now - otherwise it'll just sit there with the bank - might as well sit earning 5% in my account!

Have borrowed knitting needles from friend and my Nan to knit a hat for my niece with the wool I bought in Hobbycraft last week - I'm unlikely to knit more than a couple of baby hats, so it seemed unnecessary to buy the needles. Niece met Nan for the first time yesterday - it was lovely to see Nan holding her, as she has dementia and isn't always too aware of what's going on. We did have a giggle when silly sister let slip that her and her partner aren't married ('Not married?! What do you mean not married?' says Nan in shocked voice as we all groan at sis for mentioning this!).

Work is expected to arrive 'this week' from various clients, so it's a waiting game at the moment - I have a list of jobs to do, some which I must get done today, so I should away and crack on while it's quiet!

themadvix · 16 January 2017 at 5:57PM

Have achieved most of the jobs on my list, and all of those that needed to be done today. Am tired now though - probably because I was awake at 4.30....

Black pepper rye bread is currently in the oven - have not made it before, so will be interesting to see how it comes out. Dan is my go-to bread man - my copy of Short and Sweet is very battered! However, I find the cooking timings are quite often out (especially with our oven), so I'm only cooking it for 30 mins. Used up the end of a jar of caraway seeds (I had already, months ago, bought another) - spice rack is slowly being decluttered :T

Have also made pizza dough (also Dan's recipe) for dinner tonight - will use up the remains of the mushrooms from last week's veg box, the beaten egg from the egg wash for the loaf and some other bits and pieces. In true MSE style, I used the liquid from the mozzarella as part of the water in the dough - Dan says this adds flavour, but I think of it as waste not want not! :rotfl: With all this baking and housework, I'm a bit worried DH will get used to me having time on my hands during the day!

Things I am grateful for today:
* fresh air on my walk over to the shops
* the lovely mural that has been painted in our underpass of wildlife (not wildlife you're likely to see in our bit of council-house concrete-land, mind you) - took a photo before the local delinquents get their spray cans out.
* spending so much time doing chores that I didn't need the heating on - until it came to be time to prove the bread!
* my hyacinths (still!) - kitchen just smells divine!

Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

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